Chapter 29 Nova
Nova
It’s been a few days since Easton told me to fill my closet with clothes, and not wanting to put it off for too long, I’m bracing to shop until I drop.
When Lainey and I enter the first store, we glance around at all the clothes that are on display.
Where do I start?
“Let’s go over there. Those dresses look pretty, and they’ll look gorgeous on you,” Lainey says while tugging me to the left side of the boutique.
We look at a few dresses, and when I notice they’re more than four thousand dollars apiece, I almost have a heart attack.
This is for Easton. You need to look good beside him. Don’t look at the prices again.
Lainey shoves a bunch of dresses into my arms, then orders, “Go try them on. I want to see them on you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I tease her as I walk into the fitting room.
I quickly take off my dress, which is more than five years old and showing wear and tear, then pull on the dark-blue silk fabric with stunning flowers printed all over it. I adjust the dress around my body and tighten the sash around my middle.
When I look at my reflection in the mirror, my lips curve up.
Gosh. It’s beautiful.
I open the door and quickly walk to where Lainey is scrolling on her phone. She looks up, and a broad smile spreads over her face. “Oh my gosh! That one is so pretty. You have to take it.”
I try on dress after dress until I’m all sweaty and tired. After we pay, Izak takes the shopping bags from us so he can put them in the SUV.
Lainey grabs my hand, and I’m hauled to the next store, where the clothes cost even more.
I decide on a cream pantsuit, saying. “Let’s see how this looks on me, and then we need to take a break.”
“Okay,” Lainey agrees.
I walk to the fitting room and quickly try on the clothes. When I step out to show Lainey, she places a pair of heels in front of me.
“I think these would look awesome with the outfit.”
I shove my feet into the shoes, then wait for her verdict.
She looks me up and down, then narrows her eyes.
“Oooh! Wait a second.” Darting away from me, I watch as she talks to the store assistant.
A small black handbag is taken from a shelf and handed to my goddaughter, who jogs back to me.
“Hold this quickly,” she orders, and I hoist the strap over my shoulder.
A pleased smile spreads over her face. “Perfect. Go change so we can go to Louis Vuitton. Our appointment is in twenty minutes.”
“We need to take a break,” I remind her as I walk back into the fitting room.
I remove the expensive clothes and put on my dress and shoes. Gathering everything in my arms, I carry them out to where Lainey is waiting by the counter.
While the assistant rings up our purchase, I look at Lainey. “We need to slow down a little.”
“After Louis Vuitton. Okay? They have the best scarves and handbags.”
Unable to deny her anything, I agree, “Okay.”
Usually, I grab a dress or shirt at Walmart or Target, so this is way out of my comfort zone, but I push through for Lainey, who seems to be in her element.
After the fourth store, Lainey finally pulls me toward a restaurant.
“Thank God,” I mutter.
She lets out a burst of laughter. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”
“Not in one day,” I chuckle as I drop down on the chair at the table shown to us. I have to resist the urge to kick off my shoes so I can rub my sore toes.
“Do you like everything you’ve gotten so far?” Lainey asks as she looks at a menu.
“I love all of it.” Needing something cool, I tell the server, “I’ll have an iced tea and chicken salad.”
“I’ll have the same,” Lainey mumbles. Her chin quivers, and her eyes begin to shimmer with tears.
With Lainey suffering such a heartbreaking loss, the therapist said it’s normal for her to have breakdowns at random times.
Reaching across the table, I place my hand on hers. “You okay?”
She ducks her head and whispers, “I miss Mommy.”
“Me, too, my sweet girl.” I lean forward and tilt my head. “How about we go home, and we put on one of her videos and drown our sorrows in a pizza and a big bucket of ice cream?”
Struggling to hold her tears back, Lainey nods, and we quickly stand up. As we walk to the door, I tell one of the servers to cancel our order. When we exit the restaurant, Tyler gives me a questioning look.
“Change of plans. We’re going home,” I inform our guard.
We walk to the SUV, and as soon as we climb into the back seat, Lainey creeps in under my arm and presses against my side.
Sometimes, she’s a real little adult, but then there are times like now when she’s just a ten-year-old girl with a broken heart.
I hold her and drop kisses on the top of her head during the drive home, and when Izak stops the SUV in front of the mansion, we get out and head inside.
“Hi, Frances,” I greet our housekeeper. “Sorry to do this to you on such short notice, but can you make us one of your delicious pizzas, please?”
“Sure. It will be ready in thirty minutes,” she answers while giving Lainey a sympathetic look. “I’ll put on extra pineapple for you.”
Tyler and Izak bring in all the bags, and I say, “Can you take them up to my bedroom, please? The first room on the right.”
“Sure,” Tyler replies.
I place my hand on Lainey’s shoulder and ask, “Do you want to change into something more comfortable while we wait for Frances to make our pizza?”
She nods, and as she walks to the stairs, I follow after her. While Lainey heads into her bedroom, I go into Rachel’s. I glance through the flash drives and pick the one that’s marked Lainey 1.
I grab the box of tissues from the bedside table and walk back to the living room.
“Brace yourself, Frances,” I warn her. “We’re going to watch a video of Rachel, so there will be lots of crying.”
“I’ll just cry with you,” she chuckles sadly.
I get everything ready, and when Lainey comes into the living room wearing comfy shorts and a T-shirt, I hand her the box of tissues.
Taking a seat beside her, I pull her against me before I press play.
I actually feel pretty as I walk in the direction Izak told me to go. I washed my hair and spent an hour curling the ends, and I took my time putting on makeup.
Carrying Easton’s smoothie, I glance up at the big buildings and curiously look at a group of people working in a big warehouse. I can’t tell for sure, but they seem to be building a forest in there.
Izak said to take a left.
I turn up a street and hear someone call over a loudspeaker, “Action!”
Just hearing the word has a smile spreading over my face, then a man running on a roof grabs my attention, and I stop dead in my tracks.
Gunfire erupts as Easton runs while shooting at someone. He’s wearing black combat clothes that look seriously hot on him.
Suddenly, he leaps into the air and lands in an expert roll on the next rooftop before he sets off running again.
Holy crap!
My attention is solely focused on him as I watch the scene play out, but when he leaps over the next rooftop, he barely makes it.
My hand flies up to cover my mouth as I cry, “No!”
Easton grabs hold of the edge of the roof, and luckily, the other actor he was chasing turns around and walks back to the edge. Instead of helping Easton up, he points a gun at him, and a shot rings out.
When Easton falls, I gasp and dart forward to get to him, but then he hits a safety net, and I instantly feel stupid as I slow down to a stop.
“Cut!” the director calls out. “Good work, Easton. I think we got the shot.”
Easton climbs off the net, and I smile as I watch him walk to where the director is sitting behind the camera.
I’ll wait a little. I don’t want to interrupt them.
“Hey!” A man shouts behind me. “How did you get on set?”
I glance over my shoulder at the man who’s holding a clipboard. He has an earpiece in, which he talks into, “Get security to the set. There’s another crazy stalker.”
I shake my head and let out a chuckle. “It’s okay. I’m not a stalker.”
With an angry expression, he grabs hold of my arm and starts to drag me away. “You’re all the same. This is trespassing, lady. How the hell did you get past security?”
“Wait,” I say as I pull back against his hold. “I’m Easton’s girlfriend.”
The man lets out a bark of incredulous laughter. “Yeah, and I’m the president.”
He yanks hard on my arm, making a sharp pain shoot up to my shoulder, and it has a wave of intense panic slamming into me. A memory of Trent yanking me around flashes through my mind, and it paralyzes me for a few seconds.
My body begins to tremble, and my breaths explode over my lips.
“Please,” I whimper, instinctively knowing the kicks and punches are next.
They always come next.
“Nova!” I hear Easton shout, and it rips me out of the haze of panic and has me wrenching my arm from the man’s hold.
I fall to the side, and the smoothie splashes over the sidewalk.
When the man tries to grab hold of me again, Easton growls, “Get your fucking hands off her.”
The next second, Easton darts past me to shove the man backward before swinging around to crouch by me.
Not wanting to cause more of a scene, I hurry to say, “I’m sorry.” When I try to climb to my feet, Easton’s arms slip beneath me, and I go airborne as he lifts me bridal-style to his chest. I quickly wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face against him.
Sucking in desperate breaths of his scent, I try to stop the trembling in my body so I won’t cause Easton any more worry.
“Is everyone okay?” I hear a woman ask.
“I want that fucker fired,” Easton snaps angrily before he stalks away with me.
I have no idea where he’s taking me, but a minute or so later, he sets me down on my feet so he can open a door, and then I’m ushered into a massive trailer.
In the few seconds I get to glance around, I see gleaming wood, a table with a big mirror and bright lights where he probably gets his makeup done, brown leather couches, a small kitchen, and a bar area.
Easton yanks the door shut behind us before lifting his hands to my face. Framing my cheeks, he forces me to look at him. “Christ, Nova, are you okay?”
“Yes,” I whisper, a little stunned by what just happened.
Letting go of my face, he glances up and down my body, but then he lets out a growl. He grabs hold of my hips, and I’m pushed backward until my legs bump into one of the couches, and I land with a plop on the soft leather.
I watch as he gets a first aid kit from a cupboard before he sinks down on his knees in front of me.
Seeing the anger on his face, I say, “I’m really okay.”
His eyes flick to me, and without a word, he cleans the gash on my knee. I didn’t even realize I hurt myself. I look at the palm I caught myself with and brush the gravel off my skin.
When Easton sticks a Band-Aid over the raw spot on my knee, his eyes flick to my face again. “I’m so fucking sorry that happened to you.”
I shake my head. “Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” I glance at the door. “Won’t you get in trouble for being away from work?”
He lets out a chuckle while he moves to sit beside me. “If I say we take a break, then we take a break.”
His eyes lower to my arm, and the lines around his mouth tighten even more as he gently takes hold of my bicep, brushing his fingers over the angry red marks. “I’m going to kill the fucker for hurting you.”
“Don’t do that, and don’t fire him either. He was just doing his job.”
“Like hell he was,” Easton snaps. “Your name is on a list of people who have access. If he did his job, none of this would’ve happened. And even if you’re a fan, yanking a woman around doesn’t fly with me.”
He leans down and presses a kiss to the marks on my skin. “I swear, if this leaves a bruise and you have to wear a fucking cardigan again, I’m going to lose my shit.”
Lifting my hand to his face, I rest my palm against his jaw. Locking eyes with him, I give him a comforting smile. “I’m okay. I promise.”
He lets out a harsh breath before crushing his mouth to mine.
God, this man makes me feel so protected and loved.
Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door, and a woman calls out, “Easton, is everything okay?”
He lets out a groan as he breaks the kiss. “Yes. I’ll be out in five.”
“I’m leaving Nova’s handbag by the door in case she needs it,” the woman says.
“Thanks.” Getting up from the couch, he helps me to my feet. I watch as he walks to the door to grab my handbag, and bringing it to me, he says, “There’s a restroom through that door. I kissed off all your lipstick.”
“Thanks.” I walk into the restroom, surprised at how luxurious everything is. There’s even a big shower.
Checking my reflection in the mirror, I fix my hair and lipstick before making sure nothing is out of place and I look my best.
When I exit the restroom, it’s to see Easton typing something on his phone before tucking the device back into his pocket. My gaze glides over every muscled inch of him, loving the rugged look he’s wearing for the scene they’re filming.
He lifts his head, and the smile returns to his face. “You look beautiful, baby.”
Hearing him call me ‘baby’ does things to my heart and abdomen.
“I like that,” I murmur as I walk closer to him.
“What?”
“You calling me ‘baby.’”
He presses his lips to my forehead, then takes my eyes prisoner with his.
The look of pure adoration on his face makes my heart skip a beat, then he says, “I love you so much it scares me. When I saw that fucker manhandle you, I was ready to rip his head off. My feelings for you just keep growing. I’m overprotective of you.
I’m overly possessive of you.” His hands frame my face again.
“You’re ingrained into my fucking soul, Nova. ”
Hearing how much I mean to him has happiness flooding every fiber of my being.